Best tool for downmixing Atmos/5.1 to stereo?

[KG10]

Not sure if this is the right area to post this thread so please notify me where to post instead otherwise.

 

[jimfisheye]

Honestly, the speaker array setting in your computer OS or the Atmos decoder in the reference player (or built into your AVR if you do hardware decoding). Atmos aims to make the downmixing easy.

You can pull the tracks into a DAW app and tinker to taste. (Audacity is the free one. Reaper has a grace trial period but is also more complex.)

There might be some free apps that just downmix things 1:1 and with some level reduction so the folded down stereo doesn't clip. Maybe @HomerJAU's Media Helper app? (Windows only at present.)

 

[stoopid]

Not sure if this is the right area to post this thread so please notify me where to post instead otherwise.

Are you trying to convert for listening to atmos in realtime or saving downmixed atmos mixes to stereo in WAV/MP3/FLAC for future playback?

For playback as jimfisheye says -- use whatever capabilities are available in the computer software, bluray player, or home theater receiver. To make new stereo files from atmos requires extracting, decrypting, decoding, and re-encoding which is a gray area legally, and requires specific steps and software.

 

[KG10]

Are you trying to convert for listening to atmos in realtime or saving downmixed atmos mixes to stereo in WAV/MP3/FLAC for future playback?

For playback as jimfisheye says -- use whatever capabilities are available in the computer software, bluray player, or home theater receiver. To make new stereo files from atmos requires extracting, decrypting, decoding, and re-encoding which is a gray area legally, and requires specific steps and software.

I'm wanting to save downmixed atmos and 5.1 to stereo flac (and dsf for sacd sources if possible).

I did try real time downmixing with footbar2000 but I found the results kinda? iffy.

for non real time conversion I did try ez cd audio converter but that sometimes had some clipping on output.

 

[stoopid]

To make new stereo files from atmos requires extracting, decrypting, decoding, and re-encoding which is a gray area legally, and requires specific steps and software.

^^^

Google is your friend here.

 

[chucky3042]

How can this be the future of sound of it's not backwards compatible

 

[jimfisheye]

How can this be the future of sound of it's not backwards compatible

Atmos?
The "future of sound" part with the extra speaker channels is the secondary part. The first part right now is the "make them buy a whole new AV receiver" part. Dolby not selling their media player commercially or licensing their decoder to software media players leads to the "grey area" solutions. Google, yes. Search the forum too. It should simply be a new codec for any and all software media players and it will be soon enough. But not yet.

The dedicated stereo mixes usually come across better on stereo and mono devices than downmixes. Blasphemy to suggest around here, I know! And there are unique surround mixes sometimes with different performances or elements.

 

[KG10]

Atmos?
The "future of sound" part with the extra speaker channels is the secondary part. The first part right now is the "make them buy a whole new AV receiver" part. Dolby not selling their media player commercially or licensing their decoder to software media players leads to the "grey area" solutions. Google, yes. Search the forum too. It should simply be a new codec for any and all software media players and it will be soon enough. But not yet.

The dedicated stereo mixes usually come across better on stereo and mono devices than downmixes. Blasphemy to suggest around here, I know! And there are unique surround mixes sometimes with different performances or elements.

While it's true it's best to use stereo mixes on a stereo set up, surround mixes often are a generation or two ahead which means greater clarity compared to the original mix and they are also much more dynamic than their stereo counterparts.

 

[axel]

You can use FFmpeg to split the channels from Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA files. Then import the channels in a DAW and map them to the 5.1 or 7.1 bed in the Dolby Atmos Renderer. Finally, re-render a stereo and/or binaural version.

 

[D.M.D]

Honestly, the speaker array setting in your computer OS or the Atmos decoder in the reference player (or built into your AVR if you do hardware decoding). Atmos aims to make the downmixing easy.

You can pull the tracks into a DAW app and tinker to taste. (Audacity is the free one. Reaper has a grace trial period but is also more complex.)

There might be some free apps that just downmix things 1:1 and with some level reduction so the folded down stereo doesn't clip. Maybe @HomerJAU's Media Helper app? (Windows only at present.)

I'm using a HDMI sound extractor, (Amazon $25) with my minicomputer and VLC media player. The extractor has two outputs; right and left stereo, or optical 5.1. I use left and right stereo, and then use the Dave Hafler circuit (Google it) to make it surround sound on our four post bamboo bed home theater with our Appotronics 3D laser projector. (700 lumens). Have a pull down pure white window shade at foot of the bed. Also a 15 in Sub under the bed, and a Aura butt shaker mounted under the plywood holding the king size mattress. Whole system plugged into an large UPS due to numerous power outages here in the country of Panama in the highlands of Alto Boquete. Works for me!

 

[barfle]

My Marantz pre-pro has second and third stereo outputs from pretty much any number of channel inputs. I haven't actually checked that it will take a mono movie and put it in two channels, but I'd be surprised if it didn't.

 

[kfbkfb]

My Sony (UHD)Blu-ray players can be set to provide a Dolby Surround/Hafler/DynaQuad (type) of downmix from the (required for compatibility) Dolby Digital 5.1 downmix of the Atmos mix (I don't know if Atmos streams contain the DD 5.1 downmix).

(I sometimes listen to my Atmos Blu-ray audios with my Hafler/DynaQuad setup - I know - quite a step backwards - but the surround sound is still pretty good)


Kirk Bayne